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Magic System
All magical effects are resolved by determining the effect's Arcana, Practices, and factors. With 10 Arcana and 20 effects spaning 10 Practices, there are effectively 200 different “base spells”, before factors are considered. Factors are divided into four groups: Pattern, Range, Duration, and Area. Pattern All Arcana have four “levels” of entities that they can effect: Base, Median, Advanced and Supernal Patterns. Each additional Arcanum rank allows the mage to extend her effects up one level of complexity. The mage herself is always considered an Advanced pattern. Base patterns are common, insignificant examples of the Arcanum's domain. Median patterns are significant examples of the Arcanum's domain. Advanced patterns are the pinnacle of the Arcanum's domain within the Fallen World. Range Second, all effects have one of four possible Ranges: Self, Touch, Sensory, and Sympathetic. Any effect may be applied at the next range out, by increasing the rank of the Arcanum by one. For example, Life •• allows for healing of bashing and lethal wounds, with a range of Self. This means that Life ••• will allow others to be healed at touch range, and Life •••• will allow others to be healed at sensory range. Distance and connection themselves are merely Space patterns, so Ranks of Space may be substituted for increasing the base Arcanum. At Space ••, spells may be cast at one Range category further, or two Range categories further at Space •••. Self ranged spells may only be cast on the mage herself, obviously. Touch ranged spells require that the mage touch the target, either with her own body or with a magical tool that she wields. Sensory ranged spells require that the mage can see the target with her own eyes. Sympathetic ranged spells may be cast from anywhere, but apply a penalty based on the level of sympathetic connection the caster has with the target. Duration Third, all effects have one of four possible Duration time-scales: Transitory, Prolonged, Enduring, and Lasting. Again, higher Arcana ranks allow the caster to shift the time-scale upwards, so a Transitory Matter •• spell that allows you to turn metal transparent can be made Prolonged at Matter •••, or Enduring at Matter ••••. Unlike Range, Duration may not be pushed to its ultimate end – no amount of Arcane knowledge may turn an Enduring effect Lasting under normal circumstances. Time and duration themselves are merely Time patterns, so Ranks of Time may be substituted for increasing the base Arcanum. At Time ••, spells may be cast at one Duration category higher; at Time ••• spells may be cast at two Duration categories higher. Transitory spells operate on timescale of turns – if the spell is cast at all, it lasts until the end of the turn; additional Duration factors add directly to the number of additional turns it will last. Prolonged spells operate on a timescale of scenes or hours – the spell will last until the end of the scene by default, and may be extended by one hour per additional Duration factor allocated. Enduring spells operate on a much longer timescale – the spell will operate for roughly one day automatically, and each additional Duration factor increases the time it will operate exponentially (one week at a single Duration factor, one month for two Duration factors, one year for three Duration factors, one decade for four Duration factors, and indefinitely for five Duration factors). Lasting spells are always permanent, and do not need to be maintained. The spell itself dissipates instantly once it is cast, but the effects remain as the new “default state”. Lasting effects may not be dispelled. Target Finally, all effects have one of four possible target zones: Single, Area, and Zone. A Single-target spell targets people individually. As with Range, Space magic may be used to increase Target without increasing the base Arcana used in the spell itself. A Single-target spell can only affect a single person at a time. Affecting more targets does not require additional Arcana dots, but instead requires that the spellcaster reduces his dice pool by -1 for each additional target beyond the first. The most difficult target to affect determines any other dice pool penalties for all targets. Area-effect spells affect an area around the target, which will move as the target moves. Anyone who enters within a certain area of the target will become affected, while anyone who moves away is no longer affected. Zone-effect spells affect everyone within a large, stationary area. Targets who move in and out of the zone may suffer lingering effects, but typically only those within the zone are affected by the magic. Allocating additional Arcana ranks must be done in sequence – so if an effect that normally has a range of Touch that affects Base patterns has a Rank of ••, giving it a range of Sensory would increase it to rank •••, and allowing it to affect Advanced patterns would increase its rank to •••••. Practices (Praxia) Praxis is the ancient Greek word for “practice”, and was also the Greek word for a magic spell. All Supernal magic is divided into one of five Praxia, each of which has two Practices. The Illuminated Order of the New Dawn refers to the five Praxia by their Latin verb forms – Intelligo (the art of Perceiving), Rego (the art of Commanding), Creo (the art of Making), Muto (the art of Transforming), and Perdo (the art of Destroying). The High Speech names given are approximate; subtleties of dialect and intent make any mundane attempt to fully document them impossible. Unveiling (Intelligo) Dars'ha (Atlantean / Spirit), Vranah (Angelic / Celestial) • Pattern-Sight (Prolonged, Self) • Detect Veiled Pattern (Transitory, Touch) Knowing (Intellego) Caks'ha (Atlantean / Spirit), Ladnah (Angelic / Celestial) • Scry Own Pattern (Transitory, Self) • Scry Base Pattern (Prolonged, Touch) • Scry Median Pattern (Transitory, Touch) Veiling (Rego) Go'ha (Atlantean / Spirit), Odah (Angelic / Celestial) • Veil Base Pattern (Transitory, Touch) Compelling (Rego) Raf'ha (Atlantean / Spirit), Bogpah (Angelic / Celestial) • Compel Base Pattern (Transitory, Touch) Perfecting (Creo) Vred'ha (Atlantean / Spirit), Blansah (Angelic / Celestial) • Pattern Armor (Transitory, Self) • Repair Base Pattern (Lasting, Touch) Creating (Creo) Su'ha (Atlantean / Spirit), Olah (Angelic / Celestial) •• Renew Base Pattern (Lasting, Touch) •• Create Base Pattern (Transitory, Touch) Weaving (Muto) Vef'ha (Atlantean / Spirit), Dulvgarah (Angelic / Celestial) • Improve Base Pattern (Transitory, Touch) •• Alter Base Pattern (Transitory, Touch) Patterning (Muto) Daks'ha (Atlantean / Spirit), Hachalpah (Angelic / Celestial) •• Transform Base Pattern (Transitory, Touch) Fraying (Perdo) Dai'ha (Atlantean / Spirit), Plapliah (Angelic / Celestial) • Damage Base Pattern (Lasting, Touch) •• Destroy Base Pattern (Lasting, Touch) •• Degrade Base Pattern (Transitory, Touch) Unmaking (Perdo) Bid'ha (Atlantean / Spirit), Ipamisah (Angelic / Celestial) • Dispel (Lasting, Touch) •• Reclaim Spell (Lasting, Touch) ••• Reclaim Pattern (Lasting, Touch) Arcana Requirement Modifiers Pattern Base → Median: +• Median → Advanced: +• Advanced → Supernal: +•; always Vulgar Target Single → Area: +• (Or conjunctional Space +•) Area → Zone: +• (Or conjunctional Space +•) Duration Transitory → Prolonged: +• (Or conjunctional Time +•) Prolonged → Enduring: +• (Or conjunctional Time +•) Enduring → Lasting: +•; can only be performed on Patterns in a natural state of formation, such as fetuses in the womb or a sword still being forged. Range Self ← Touch: – • (Remember that you're always an Advanced Pattern) Self → Touch: +• Touch → Sensory: +• (Or conjunctional Space +•) Sensory → Sympathetic: +• (Or conjunctional Space +•) Other Per Additional Praxis: +• (Unnecessary for Ruling Arcana or while Ritually Casting) Patterns All Patterns in the Fallen World fall under one of three levels of complexity – Base, Median and Advanced. Within the Supernal world itself are the greater Supernal Patterns, forces too vast to comprehend. The High Speech names given are approximate; subtleties of dialect and intent make any mundane attempt to fully document them impossible.